


Scenario 27

by rideswraptors



Series: Kastle Scenarios [27]
Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 13:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16535834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rideswraptors/pseuds/rideswraptors
Summary: “You look good for a dead guy.”“You sound good for a dead guy.”





	Scenario 27

He didn’t know why she’d called. They were in constant contact, sure, but that didn’t mean he knew why she’d called this time. Usually, she had a good reason. Lead. Dripping faucet. Sex. Those were concrete things Frank could deal with and follow through on. Thankfully, Karen was one of the few things in his life that wasn’t cloudy and muddled with layers of deception.

 

So the vague text message asking him to meet her at a place they’d never met up before with no clear explanation as to why was giving him hives. Karen didn’t do vague. Karen didn’t skirt around things that bothered her. So he scoped the place out from the roof across the street first. Using an actual scope. She was there, expression tight, arms crossed. She looked pissed. Frank frowned; he’d not been out in a while since he was helping Homeland hunt down leads on Russo. He couldn’t remember doing anything that would piss her off. He shook it off and looked back through the scope. He found the actual reason sitting right across from her. 

 

Son of a bitch. 

 

He tossed his scope back in his back, kicked it to the corner, pulled up his hood, and then took the fire escape down to street level. He had to bounce on the balls of his feet and shove his hands in his pockets before crossing the street to go inside. This was not gonna be good. Not at all. 

 

From where he was standing, Karen looked like she damn near jumped out of her skin when the doorbell clanged as he came through. She immediately whirled around in her seat, shoulders dropping and letting out a heavy sigh even he could hear. Yikes. Even bigger surprise, she got up from the booth and came over to him without checking in with her companion. She got to him, let him hug her, and instantly covered his mouth with her hand when he tried to ask what the hell was going on. Karen lifted her brows and shook her head, making him nod. 

 

Duh. The bastard had bat ears. Apparently, he was scowling because she tilted her head at him, making that face she made when she was trying to convince him to stay an hour longer than originally intended. Her hand slipped away and he pulled in his bottom lip and had to bite at it to keep from cursing, jerking his head to look away from her momentarily. Cracked his neck for good measure. But he shifted his gaze right back, lips twisted up, and nodded. Karen pressed forward to kiss his cheek, soft and easy, and she grabbed up his hand and led him to the booth. 

 

Frank found himself sitting across from Matt Murdock, who suddenly wasn’t so missing anymore. 

 

“You look good for a dead guy.” 

 

“You sound good for a dead guy.” 

 

Frank glowered at him, annoyed that he had the nerve to direct his eyes exactly in his direction even though he couldn’t see a damn thing. Karen covered his hand with her own, squeezing tight. Murdock’s eyes went right to their hands. 

 

*

 

_ Dry skin on skin. Clap. 10 point elevation in Castle’s heart rate. Increased blood flow outward, away from core to limbs. Indicative of an adrenaline rush.  _

 

_ Steady, high heart rate. 4 point drop when Castle entered. Rush of blood to the head, indicative of decreased cortisol levels. Possible migraine on the horizon, maybe he should-- _

 

“So I got  _ Pete _ here,” Karen said firmly, sounding not at all pleased. She hadn’t been pleased when he asked either. Hadn’t been pleased he’d shown up at her place. Not that he could blame her. But even though the whole point had been to dig up Frank Castle, now he was curious about other things. Like this strange interaction. It seemed intimate. Practiced. He felt his gut clench. They were communicating silently to make sure he didn’t catch onto what they were saying. People had done that to him his whole life, though with malicious intent. This didn’t seem malicious. It seemed...comfortable.

 

“Right,” he said, shifting in his seat. “I need a favor.” 

 

“So you get Karen involved?” Frank snapped. 

 

_ Shift in bodies, brush of fabric. Dry skin on dry skin _ . 

 

Frank let out a long huff through his nose, like an angry bull getting corralled into a corner. Interesting. 

 

“What d’you want?”

 

*

Frank listened to Murdock’s request with no small amount of irritation and derision. He had no idea what he was asking. No idea what kind of danger he was putting Karen in. 

 

“...this is our only shot at getting to Fisk before--”

 

“No,” Frank said, folding his hands in his lap. 

 

“You didn’t even--”

 

“No.” 

 

“ _ Frank _ ,” Karen whispered, voice strained. He turned to look at her this time. Brows raised, making his statement in clear, no uncertain terms. 

 

“ _ No _ .”

 

He barely reacted when Murdock slammed a fist on the table, drawing more attention to two dead men than strictly necessary at lunch hour on a Tuesday. Fucking man-child, irresponsible--

 

“You think you owe him, don’t you? For getting you out? Like he did you some kind of solid?” Murdock’s face leapt. “He did it to screw with me, Frank. It was never about you. He wanted to unleash an animal on New York. One I couldn’t stop.” 

 

Frank pulled his lips into a tight, thin line, nodding nonsensically even as Karen pulled his hand into her lap, trying to keep him calm. That was some relief. That she wasn’t jumping on board this half-cocked bullshit plan to take down a man with more resources than god himself while Russo was out there doing fuck knows what and the city was imploding. 

 

“I don’t give a shit about what Fisk wants or thinks about me. He let me out. That’s on him. Far as I can tell, his beef ain’t with me. And he doesn’t know about Karen--”

 

“Of course, he does. Jesus, Frank, don’t be stupid. His people framed her for murder and then she worked for me while I got him locked up. He’ll come after everyone I’m connected to. Karen included.”

 

Frank shot Karen a questioning look. She had the decency to look a little sheepish, but she shook her head. He dragged his hand across his forehead tiredly.

 

“Damn it, Karen.”

 

“There was a lot going on.”

 

“You never said he didn’t know.” 

 

She didn’t argue that point, probably because she didn’t have a good explanation as to why she hadn’t told Murdock about James Wesley. He could take a few guesses, though. He picked up her hand and raised it to his lips, barely brushing over her skin before turning his attention back to Murdock. 

 

“Fisk been in contact with you?” 

 

“More or less.”

 

“He mentioned Karen specifically? 

 

“Yeah,” Murdock said, impatiently. “What’s going on? What didn’t you tell--?”

 

“That’s not important right now. What’s important is that you tell me exactly what Fisk told you and we make a plan.” 

 

“What are you--?”

 

It was Frank’s turn to get annoyed, but he settled for reaching across the table to pull at the man’s jacket, yanking him forward. 

 

“The only reason I’m here is because she didn’t tell me you were. The only reasoning I’m even talking to right now is because  _ her _ safety is in question. So if you don’t tell me what I want to know, then you’re of no use to me, and I will walk out. Let you deal with your damn mess on your own,” he snarled out, shoving Murdock back into his seat. The guy must have been really thrown off guard because, normally, he wouldn’t have been given the chance to put hands on him like that. 

 

“You’re together,” Murdock breathed out stupidly. Frank had to blink off his annoyance.

 

“ _ What _ ?” 

 

“Yes, Matt,  _ yes _ , all right? We’re together. Congratulations. You’re the  _ Daredevil _ and I’m sleeping with the  _ Punisher _ ,” Karen hissed under her breath, “glad we got that cleared up. Happy now?”

 

“No, Karen! No!” He leaned forward, obviously trying to calm himself. “No I’m not happy that you’re with a mass murderer and Fisk has other reasons to want to kill you. That does not generally make me happy.” 

 

Frank thought he was going to lose his eyeballs when he rolled them so hard. Dear fucking god, they were in high school all over again. He tugged at his ear and scratched behind it, trying to keep himself even and focused. 

 

“Well, Red,” Frank grumbled, “seeing as you’ve been  _ dead _ for the last six months, maybe nobody gives a shit what you think about who’s shackin’ up with who--”

 

“How d--?”

 

He held up his hands as if to placate. “I really don’t give a shit. I really just don’t. Karen’s my priority, so if you don’t have anything useful to say, then we’ve got better places to be.” 

 

Murdock stared at them. Well, stared being a figurative term, in this particular case. It didn’t matter, he was looking pretty stunned, especially when Karen didn’t jump in to defend him or wrangle Frank. Truthfully, Frank wasn’t sure Murdock had ever been around to see the two of them interact. Except court. Karen’s thumb drifted over his hand. Court didn’t count. 

 

Murdock recovered after a moment and leaned forward, hands clasped together on top of the table.

 

“He implied that Karen was on his list. He said it was only fair that I lost my assistant after he lost his. Eye for an eye or something like that. Not that I know what he’s talking about. My interactions with James Wesley were...minimal at best.” 

 

Karen had turned her head away, being far too obvious. She’d kept it to herself for this long, so Frank wasn’t sure why she was buckling right now. Didn’t make much sense, but it was her thing, so he’d keep his mouth shut about it. 

 

“It was me,” she told Murdock evenly. “I--Wesley’s on me.”

 

“What? How did--? When did you even--?”

 

She snorted. “You were a little preoccupied.” 

 

Murdock’s lips twisted up in a tight scowl. “You should have come to me.” 

 

Karen shrugged. “Why? Back then, I was convinced that you were an alcoholic on a crusade to bring down Fisk legally. I didn’t know what you were doing. I thought you would’ve turned me in. So I handled it.” She grabbed her purse off the table and Frank felt himself gearing up for the next verbal lashing. Poor bastard. 

 

“And  _ maybe _ , Matt,” she spat at him, voice tight and vicious, “people would be honest with you if you even  _ tried _ to be honest every once in awhile. Instead of hiding behind some goddamn mask and letting people think the worst of you.” She got up and took a few steps away before turning back to bring her hands to Frank’s face and kiss him deeply. Maybe he should have reacted negatively, knowing she was doing it to piss Murdock off a little, but Frank didn’t give a damn. Especially when she brushed her nose against his and told him she’d see him at home. With that, she was walking out the door. Frank would follow. He always did. But truthfully, he felt bad for the son of a bitch. 

 

“Christ,” Murdock muttered, slumping back into his seat, looking tired. Shit, he looked more tired when he was healthy than he did when he was beat to hell. 

 

“Verbal assault is a Karen Page trademark,” Frank offered with a shrug. “Woman knows how ta letta guy have it.” 

 

There was a small quirk at the corner of Murdock’s mouth. “Must be routine for you by now.” 

 

“You got no idea. Ever since you fell through that damn hole, I gotta check in like clockwork or I get shredded.”

 

His face dropped at that and Frank was satisfied. Asshole deserved it a little. Too self-sacrificing for words. Hurt Karen in the process too. 

 

“Look, man, just call if you get anything, okay? I’ll look after Karen. Let’s just put this shit to bed already.” 

 

He got up to go, already calculating how far Karen could have gotten and which direction she would go when Murdock called out to him. Used his cover name and everything. 

 

“Yeah?” he answered. Murdock looked stupidly small sitting in that booth. Which was weird because he usually looked like a ginormous prick who took up too much space with all his self-righteous ego. Seemed like Karen was everybody’s pressure point these days. 

 

“How’d it happen?” Frank frowned. “You two, I mean.” 

 

_ Yeah right _ , Frank thought sourly. He wasn’t about to divulge all those details, pour his guts out to the guy who’d tried to get him in jail, keep him out of jail, get him back in jail. Their story was too twisted for words. But it was twisted up around Karen, and that much made sense to a guy like Frank. Hands in his pockets, his spread his arms.

 

“I came back,” he said flatly. “You didn’t.” 

  
  
  



End file.
